Prom 3: 17.07.16 - Mozart, Haydn and Fauré

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00 Sunday 17 Jul 2016 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Exsultate, jubilate
Joseph Haydn: Mass in C major 'Paukenmesse'
Gabriel Fauré: Pavane
Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem


Lucy Crowe (soprano)
Paula Murrihy (mezzo-soprano)
Robin Tritschler (tenor)
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

In a Prom of choral classics the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, follows intricate sacred works by Mozart and Haydn with the radiant serenity of Fauré, whose Requiem radiates stillness and spirituality.
The King's choristers are joined by leading vocal soloists as well as the period instruments of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlm34

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlqnz (repeat)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

No indication of which version is being played.

[mercia]

the proms website helpfully tells us it is the version "with orchestra" and that Mr Williams is not only a baritone but a singer too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

the proms website helpfully tells us it is the version "with orchestra" and that Mr Williams is not only a baritone but a singer too.

From time to time, there are online surveys about customer views on the Radio 3 website. I politely tell them what they probably don't want to hear, but it never makes the slightest difference.

[edashtav]

What an appropriate programme following recent tragic events in France, Turkey and now the USA, especially if we give the Haydn mass its alternative title: Missa in tempore belli.

[pastoralguy]

Lovely performance of the Mozart from Lucy Crowe, IMHO.

[makropulos]

Lovely performance of the Mozart from Lucy Crowe, IMHO.

Yes! - I thought she was fabulous - wonderfully agile too.

[BBMmk2]

Lucy Crowe sung Mozart, with great consummate ease, yes, (although I'm not a fan). The Haydn is in a class of it's own. As it happens rather an appropriate work to put on, this season.

[Bryn]

the proms website helpfully tells us it is the version "with orchestra" and that Mr Williams is not only a baritone but a singer too.

Well, later SMP told us it was a version with "reduced" orchestra. Not, however, the original, but something of an amalgam. Just how many versions did Fauré and Roger-Ducasse make between them? Oh, and was this one of them or a more recent compilation?

[Cornet IV]

Proms 2016

Mercifully, it is seldom that the Proms feature in The Choir but since tonight's broadcast was almost exclusively choral and it served to reinforce a view I have entertained for some while, I thought I would mention it.

Lucy Crow in the Mozart was refreshingly good and I liked her enormously. However, the three Faure pieces, particularly the Requiem, were very disappointing. I am of the opinion that Stephen Cleobury passed his sell-by date some time ago and his detached and lack-lustre performance this evening together with an almost complete absence of any musical dynamic ably demonstrated the validity of my judgment. Apart from shortcomings in direction, he appeared to have lost contact with the trebles of the King's College Chapel choir who seem not to appreciate that you cannot project with your mouth closed. Cleobury has done some marvellous work over the years but perhaps the time has come to award him a gong, a pat on the head and put him out to grass.

The star of the evening undoubtedly was the 13-year-old whose Pie Jesu was really excellent; he deserves all the plaudits he surely will receive.

[edashtav]

[...]
However, the three Faure pieces, particularly the Requiem, were very disappointing. I am of the opinion that Stephen Cleobury passed his sell-by date some time ago and his detached and lack-lustre performance this evening together with an almost complete absence of any musical dynamic ably demonstrated the validity of my judgment. [...]

The star of the evening undoubtedly was the 13-year-old whose Pie Jesu was really excellent; he deserves all the plaudits he surely will receive.

Thus far, I've heard only the second half of the Concert : the three Faure pieces. I was not as disappointed as Cornet IV but I accept the validity of much of his thesis. The Requiem was a chamber version both in terms of scoring and the size of the choir: 31. That did not invalidate it but the provincial feel, the Faure-lite did so. Tempi tended to be too brisk and much of music-making had a routine feel about it. One of the choristers during the interval talked of taking the day's music off the shelf on the way to a short rehearsal before the day's service, and it was this quality of all in the day's routine that suffused the performance. In fact, it wasn't so much a performance as singing one expects during a service.

The soloists did rise above the humdrum, and here I'd like to add a good word for the fine manner in which Roderick Williams characterised his baritone pieces, but elsewhere this was a choir and conductor on autopilot.

One can accept mongrel non-HIP performances within the financial constraints of a service in College, but for an appearance at the Proms accompanied by a fine HIP band paid for by the Beeb, I expected more research to get back to 1888 and not a lazy repeat of another slick Rutter anglicisation.

Could have done better, should have done so.

[VodkaDilc]

Unusually for me, I listened to the complete concert on the radio. (I normally dip in and out when I am not physically at a concert.) I thought the two sections of the concert balanced each other well. In both major works the choir came over well; here I think that the home listener was probably at an advantage. A small choir could easily get lost in that space, but the radio allowed it to project well.

I enjoyed the Fauré; it was especially good to hear the organ being allowed to dominate occasionally. The last movement had co-ordination problems between organ and harp, but I know from experience that the semiquaver rhythm in this section can go awry. I would certainly disagree with the unkind comments made in a previous posting about one of our foremost choir directors.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

One can accept mongrel non-HIP performances within the financial constraints of a service in College, but for an appearance at the Proms accompanied by a fine HIP band paid for by the Beeb, I expected more research to get back to 1888 and not a lazy repeat of another slick Rutter anglicisation.

Mongrels are always healthier than pedigrees.

[edashtav]

Mongrels are always healthier than pedigrees.

Ha,ha!

[gurnemanz]

I agree with Cornet's comments, especially on the boy treble and Roderick Williams who always seems to do a good job. I didn't think the choir were producing a uniform, homogeneous sound, particularly tenors and basses.